Every year, as part of our commitment to global education, Queens College focuses on the history, art, and significant contributions of a different country. In 2010-11, our inaugural initiative explored the art, culture and music of China. Events included a lecture and seminar series; exhibitions; art installations; performance pieces—both art and music; and student-sponsored Asian-themed comedy acts.

A SHORT COURSE ON CONTEMPORARY CHINA

The Contemporary China Program--chaired by Carl Riskin, QC Distinguished Professor of Economics--offered an in-depth study of six topics important to China and the world.

Each topic was introduced in a talk by a leading scholar. In subsequent seminars, participants gathered for discussion on the lecture topic.

MARLENE TSENG YU: NATURE AND COSMOS

September 13 – November 24, 2010

Godwin-Ternbach Museum

A 40-year retrospective of brilliantly colored paintings by this internationally recognized Taiwanese-born Queens artist revealed the power of the natural world and the artist’s visionary fusion of Eastern and modern Western art forms and content.

“If there is a string quartet currently in circulation that produces a more beautiful sound than the Shanghai Quartet, the name doesn't immediately come to mind.”--New York Times

LeFrak Concert Hall, 10 am

LECTURE: CHINA TODAY

Queens College’s Distinguished Professor Morris Rossabi is a historian of China and Central Asia. He is the author of several books and numerous articles, and has contributed to several volumes of the Cambridge History of China. Professor Rossabi travels extensively to central Asia and Mongolia.

LeFrak Concert Hall, 2 pm, free

ILLUSTRATED TALK:
VESTIGES OF THE SILK ROAD IN CHINA

France Pepper, executive director of Shen Wei Dance Arts, conducted a virtual trip along the Silk Road that ran from China’s ancient capital Chang’an (modern Xi’an) to the oases of the Taklamakan Desert in eastern Central Asia. The audience explored the art, culture, history, and geography of a region that once connected China to Europe and served as the trade route for many exotic goods and the exchange of people, religions, and ideas.

LeFrak Concert Hall, 3 pm, free

CONCERT

The Aaron Copland School of Music faculty performed with Distinguished Artist-in-Residence Bright Sheng.

LeFrak Concert Hall, 7:30 pm

CHEE WANG NG

SEPTEMBER 11 MEMORIAL INSTALLATION

September 4 – September 15, 2010
Student Union Lobby

Presented by the Godwin-Ternbach Museum, Queens College

Malaysian-born Chinese artist Chee Wang Ng fused the symbolism, objects, and music of Chinese and American culture to express the grief and solidarity of Americans and the global community, and commemorate the 9/11 tragedy. One of three identical installations in red, white, and blue, signifying the colors of the American flag, it was concurrently on view at the Museum of Chinese in America in Lower Manhattan and the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, NJ.

EDEN: CERAMICS BY SIN-YING HO

Curated by Tara Mathison, Assistant Curator

September 8 – October 26, 2010
Queens College Art Center

Sin-ying Ho, a Hong Kong-Chinese ceramist living in North America, personifies globalization. She painted hundreds of flowers, combined with underglaze transfer-printed images, on 6- to 7-foot tall porcelain vessels inspired by the silhouette of the human figure as referenced from Renaissance paintings. In this show, images of consumerism and traces of technology juxtaposed with Edenic imagery on the life-size vessels created a visual metaphor for the relationship between human nature and the changing physical world.

Sin-ying Ho is assistant professor of ceramics at Queens College.

Eden was co-sponsored by the Queens College Art Department, PSC-CUNY Research Foundation, Queens Council on the Arts, and Coptor Productions.

Native New Yorker Tommy Mintz candidly explored everyday life in the Chinese capital through images of Beijing residents navigating their city. Co-sponsored by the Queens College Art Department, Barbara Lane, chair.

An artist with "intellect and a vivid imagination" (The New York Times), Joel Fan is a uniquely brilliant pianist conjoining great works of the past and newly discovered music of cultures from around the world. As the Boston Globe commented, Fan is a "champion of new music, explorer of world music." His performances and recordings have garnered praise worldwide.

A sampling of hard-copy materials held by the Queens College Art Library. The selected books, pamphlets, periodicals, and images surveyed one of the richest cultures of the world, from Neolithic pottery to the vibrant art of our time. Curated by Stevie Kasparian, Paul Remeczki, and Suzanna Simor.

BEIJING DANCE ACADEMY BALLET:
A SCENT OF TIMEChoreography by Yin Mei

May 7, 2011

LeFrak Concert Hall, 7:30 pm

One of the world’s leading institutions of dance and dance education, the Beijing Dance Academy Ballet presented the U.S. premiere of a ballet choreographed by contemporary performance artist Yin Mei.